A standard front end loader containing a conventional bucket generally does not adequately plow snow (the word "plow" as used herein refers to the action of pushing the snow in front of the loader). There have been several attempts to convert such vehicles into efficient snow plows through the attachment of blades on the front of the bucket.
Blades that are attached to the front of the bucket of front end loaders are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,255,884 (Williams), 4,328,628 (Thomas), 3,866,342 (Cooper) and 3,599,355 (Lockwood). Although these attachments increase the efficiency of snow removal with such vehicles, they suffer the inherent disadvantage that the blade causes a lateral build up of snow, thus creating banks that can block driveways and cross streets.
There have also been attempts to increase the efficiency of snow plows by securing attachments or wings to the sides of the blade of the snow plow such as is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,741,116 (Engle et al) and 4,707,936 (Steinoff). Such attachments successfully improve the efficiency of these snow plows and decrease the lateral buildup of snow. However, the deficiencies in these attachments are the tedious and time consuming methods required to secure these attachments to the blade of the snow plow.